Public supports axing Highbury Corner gyratory

01 June, 2018

An artist’s impression of how the revamped Highbury Corner will look when finished

• IN two widely-publicised consultations people voted resoundingly to close one side of the roundabout at Highbury Corner. People overwhelmingly favoured pedestrians, public transport users, cyclists and safety over a slight delay for cars.

In the first consultation in 2008 we set up Families of Highbury Corner to support closure of the gyratory outside the station and protection of an ancient plane tree; 1,068 people signed the petition our families presented to them.

Fewer motor vehicles and more public space were an easy sell, even before “Dieselgate” and heightened awareness of the effects of pollution.

It is not clear who and how many they purport to represent, but the results of the last two consultations demonstrate that they have minimal public support on this topic. Pollution needs to be addressed now.

Of course, closing the gyratory and adding safe cycle lanes are just part of the solution to motor vehicle pollution.

The adoption of zero emission vehicles needs to be encouraged by more electric charging points and also faster conversion of buses and taxis.

Clearly, the development needs to be done to a high quality, the net loss of mature trees must be minimised and the design needs to anticipate and limit anti-social behaviour. Hopefully, in the future we will see improvements to the station itself.